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A Novelist and Storyteller...

...is pretty much what I've been most of my life. When I'm not doing that, I'm out promoting the Great American Songbook as a solo pianist and member of ...

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Reader Reviews

BC

Turn of the century literary fantasy mash-up

An entertaining and compelling mash up of early 20th century history and fantasy, this book has Dorothy, Wendy and Alice (yes, those girls) carving out their places in a changing world while haunted by memories of their fantastic childhood adventures that they're told can't be real. This is the beginning of a series you'll want to continue.

07/05/2022
Brian Cherry
BC

Turn of the century literary fantasy mash-up

An entertaining and compelling mash up of early 20th century history and fantasy, this book has Dorothy, Wendy and Alice (yes, those girls) carving out their places in a changing world while haunted by memories of their fantastic childhood adventures that they're told can't be real. This is the beginning of a series you'll want to continue.

07/05/2022
Brian Cherry
SM

There have been many stories that put together the adventures and heroines of Dorothy's Oz, Alice's "Curioser" Wonderland and Wendy's Peter Pan. I have never read any of them (aside from the webcomic "Namesake") until this one, which was my first . . . and I could not have asked for a better turn out!

McElrath takes into account their stories' published setting years (difference being the books don't exist) and makes it a historically accurate "What-If..?" scenario of these three ladies meeting and conversing, the main factor being that Alice has become an older learned Doctor who recruits the two young girls to her residence after hearing about their similarly-sounding "fantasies" and helps them to rethink their experiences; to realize that they are not helpless nor that they can be harmed by these delusions and to figure out where these radical fantastical other-worldly ideas may have manifested.

Interestingly, Dorothy Gale and Wendy Darling do not get along, not at all, their personalities clashing and repelling each other so that "Dottie" and "Prissypants" are constantly bickering or competing.

How does a Kansas farm girl and a London aristocrat put up with each other day to day? How does Dr Alice Liddell encourage and interact with the girls so patiently during their sessions?

The story is engaging, thrilling, enticing and approaches the possibility of the two young leading females growing up and (especially in the case of Dorothy) learning to actually become their own person as they mature in their years with the onset of World War 1, but most of all it is respectful and respectable; he does not go hardcore into romance or adult themes, far from it. he makes them real girls with real feelings and thoughts with their own skills that surprises the other.

Best of all he stays true to the original books of their settings, especially with Oz, by staying away from the often-too-referenced classic film and focusing more on the original book authors' writings, without being specific but yet always alluding to the original Silver Shoes in an exquisite description and fascinating inclusion for most of the first half, however, he does combine two opposing aspects in portraying a Wicked West Witch for a bit. I was also surprised at how, when the girls are now teenagers becoming young adults, he alludes to a later Oz book with a strange and beautifully ornate belt . . .

McElrath does include Kansas farmhands, but he makes them unique and originally distinguishable, as well as historically accurate to what would be appropriate at that time, several decades ago, including fresh new interesting names.

Being "old times", there may be some racial reference that was used back then, so caution for younger readers may be recommended.

Do not expect full chapters where we re-read their fantasy adventures, as the intention is to focus on the real world aftermath and "consequences" of their dreamy recollections to their families. He also delves into the adults who raise them, developing the dynamic - and characters - between Wendy's parents Mr and Mrs Darling (in particular, her) as well as her brothers John and Michael, even creating depth and backstory to Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.

How would Dorothy and Wendy grow up in their time periods? How do they handle the "attraction" that is happening between them, emotionally and physically, as well as their male counterparts during maturity?

How do they get past their childhood traumas? How do their families coexist, interact with each other across the waters, and what happens when business is involved and exchanged between the two, in different classes and countries?

And what if their dreams are MORE than delusions? What if they are more real and lifelike than they realized?

These questions and many others are addressed and answered in this book (with a few loose ends to be revisited), which is planned to be the first of three (the magical number) . . . and I am very interested to find out what happens next and how!

07/05/2022
Sam Milazzo
SM

There have been many stories that put together the adventures and heroines of Dorothy's Oz, Alice's "Curioser" Wonderland and Wendy's Peter Pan. I have never read any of them (aside from the webcomic "Namesake") until this one, which was my first . . . and I could not have asked for a better turn out!

McElrath takes into account their stories' published setting years (difference being the books don't exist) and makes it a historically accurate "What-If..?" scenario of these three ladies meeting and conversing, the main factor being that Alice has become an older learned Doctor who recruits the two young girls to her residence after hearing about their similarly-sounding "fantasies" and helps them to rethink their experiences; to realize that they are not helpless nor that they can be harmed by these delusions and to figure out where these radical fantastical other-worldly ideas may have manifested.

Interestingly, Dorothy Gale and Wendy Darling do not get along, not at all, their personalities clashing and repelling each other so that "Dottie" and "Prissypants" are constantly bickering or competing.

How does a Kansas farm girl and a London aristocrat put up with each other day to day? How does Dr Alice Liddell encourage and interact with the girls so patiently during their sessions?

The story is engaging, thrilling, enticing and approaches the possibility of the two young leading females growing up and (especially in the case of Dorothy) learning to actually become their own person as they mature in their years with the onset of World War 1, but most of all it is respectful and respectable; he does not go hardcore into romance or adult themes, far from it. he makes them real girls with real feelings and thoughts with their own skills that surprises the other.

Best of all he stays true to the original books of their settings, especially with Oz, by staying away from the often-too-referenced classic film and focusing more on the original book authors' writings, without being specific but yet always alluding to the original Silver Shoes in an exquisite description and fascinating inclusion for most of the first half, however, he does combine two opposing aspects in portraying a Wicked West Witch for a bit. I was also surprised at how, when the girls are now teenagers becoming young adults, he alludes to a later Oz book with a strange and beautifully ornate belt . . .

McElrath does include Kansas farmhands, but he makes them unique and originally distinguishable, as well as historically accurate to what would be appropriate at that time, several decades ago, including fresh new interesting names.

Being "old times", there may be some racial reference that was used back then, so caution for younger readers may be recommended.

Do not expect full chapters where we re-read their fantasy adventures, as the intention is to focus on the real world aftermath and "consequences" of their dreamy recollections to their families. He also delves into the adults who raise them, developing the dynamic - and characters - between Wendy's parents Mr and Mrs Darling (in particular, her) as well as her brothers John and Michael, even creating depth and backstory to Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.

How would Dorothy and Wendy grow up in their time periods? How do they handle the "attraction" that is happening between them, emotionally and physically, as well as their male counterparts during maturity?

How do they get past their childhood traumas? How do their families coexist, interact with each other across the waters, and what happens when business is involved and exchanged between the two, in different classes and countries?

And what if their dreams are MORE than delusions? What if they are more real and lifelike than they realized?

These questions and many others are addressed and answered in this book (with a few loose ends to be revisited), which is planned to be the first of three (the magical number) . . . and I am very interested to find out what happens next and how!

07/05/2022
Sam Milazzo

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